PURPOSE: The clinical significance of preoperative serum levels of CEA and CA19-9, levels of CEA and CA19-9 in peritoneal washing fluid and free cancer cells in peritoneal washing fluid in gastric cancer patients were evaluated in this study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Serum and peritoneal levels of CEA and CA19-9 and peritoneal washing cytology in 115 patients with gastric cancer were analyzed with respect to the prognostic factors using univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Positive rate of serum CEA and CA19-9 was 16.5%, 13.0%. And that of peritoneal washing CEA, CA19-9 and cytology was 15.7%, 7.8% and 9.6%. A univariate analysis showed that tumor markets in serum and peritoneal washing fluid and peritoneal washing cytology had significant correlations with the progression of the tumors, and patients with positive serum or peritoneal tumor markers had poorer survival after operation than did the patients with negative tumor markers. But in a multivariate analysis showed that only peritoneal CA19-9 was an independent risk factor. And combination of these five markers provided rnore predictable prognostic informations in a multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Combination of serum or peritoneal levels of CEA, CA19-9 and washing cytology appeared to be a useful marker for managing gastric cancer patients.
Humans ; Multivariate Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Biomarkers, Tumor

Neurolymphomatosis is rare neurologic manifestation, that usually develops in patients with wide spread non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Cranial neuropathy is an unusual syndrome of neurolymphomatosis that is sometimes difficult to diagnose using conventional imaging modalities. We report a 63 year-old man with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with progressive multiple cranial nerve palsy. He complained progressive cranial nerve palsy. We performed conventional magnetic resonance imaging and cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) exam. But no any abnormality showed in conventional imaging and CSF study. We report a patient who presented with cranial neuropathy in neurolymphomatosis.
Animals ; Cranial Nerve Diseases ; Cranial Nerves* ; Humans ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Marek Disease* ; Middle Aged ; Neurologic Manifestations

Nosocomial infection represent a significant cause of patient morbidity and mortality, especially in the ICU and nosocomial pneumonia that cause high mortality may arise from contaminated respiratory equipments. This study was done to investigate the relationship of micro-organisms in upper respiratory tract and ventilatory equipment, especially humidifier. The total number of cases in this study was 20 and the specimen for bacteriologic culture were taken from the pharynx, the distilled water and the inner wall of humidifier and toilet of trachea at the 0, 4, 8, 12, 24, 48 hours after initiation of mechanical ventilation. The results obtained from the bacteriologic culture were as follows. 1) The most frequently found organism at the pharynx was Pseudomonas aeruginosa and next was Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus, followed by Streptococcus viridans, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus group D, Enterobacter agglomerans, Acinetobacter spp. 2) The most frequently found organism at the trachea was Pseudomonas aeruginosa and next was Klebsiella pneumoniae followed by Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus, Streptocoecus viridans, Pseudomonas picketti, Staphylococcus aureus and no growth in 5 cases. 3) The most frequently found organism in the fluid of humidifier was Pseudomonas aeruginosa and next was Pseudomonas picketti, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus group D and no growth in 2 cases. 4) The most frequently found organism at the pharynx was Pseudomonas aeruginosa and next was Pseudomonas picketti, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus group D, Serratia liquefacines, Acinetobacter spp and no growth in 3 cases. 5) The number of isolated organisms in the fluid of humidifier was 3 at 0 hour and 18 after 48 hours and at the wall 2 at 0 hour and 15 after 48 hours. 6) The number of same organism that was isolated between the pharynx and trachea was 13 among 15 cases and between the wall and fluid of humidifier was 15 among 16 cases and between trachea and fluid of humidifier was 10 among 14 cases.
Acinetobacter ; Coagulase ; Cross Infection ; Enterobacter ; Enterococcus faecalis ; Humans ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Mortality ; Pharynx ; Pneumonia ; Pseudomonas ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory System ; Serratia ; Staphylococcus ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Trachea ; Ventilators, Mechanical* ; Viridans Streptococci ; Water

Annuloaortic ectasia, cystic medial degeneration of the afflicted aortic wall leading to progressive dilatation, is often accompanied by Marfan's syndrome. Some portions of intimal flap is commonly demonstrated along the aorta in the noninvasive diagnosis of aortic dissection. We report the first case of circumscribed aortic dissection developed in a 28 year old obese non-Marfanoid patient. He was transferred after thrombolytic therapy at a community hospital because of severe chest pain and ST segment elevation. Transthoracic echocardiography showed markedly dilated aortic root, moderate amount of pericardial effusion, mild aortic regurgitation in spite of normal regional wall motion of left ventricle. Intimal flap, characteristic of aortic dissection, was not seen with computed tomography. Intimal tear was demonstrated just above aortic valve only by transesophageal echocardiography. Two parallel intimal tear and small circumscribed dissection was demonstrated by autopsy.
Adult ; Aorta ; Aortic Valve ; Aortic Valve Insufficiency ; Autopsy ; Chest Pain ; Diagnosis ; Dilatation ; Dilatation, Pathologic* ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Heart Ventricles ; Hospitals, Community ; Humans ; Marfan Syndrome ; Pericardial Effusion ; Thrombolytic Therapy

Emergency surgical patients are more frequently in critical state than elective patients and they have not enough time for physical and laboratory examinations. The evaluation of perio-perative data will improve the outcome of emergency operation. We analyzed 1053 anesthesias for emergency operation which were performed at the department of anesthesiology, Anam Hospital from September 1992 to August 1993 clinically and statistically according to age, sex, physical status, department, anesthetic duration, method and agent, types of trauma, amount of transfusion, etc. The results were as follows; 1) The percent of emergency surgery cases was 13.6 of total surgical patients. 2) The ratio of male to female was 1.15:1. 3) About 61.1% of all emergency patients were in the 21-40 years age group. 4) According to the ASA classification of physical status, the percent of patients in emergency class 1 and 2 was 86.2 of the total patients. 5) The most common operation was Cesarean section (19.9%), and appendectomy (13.8%) the next. 6) The most common anesthetic method for emergency operation was general anesthesia with enflurane. 7) The obstetric cases were most common and the general surgery cases were the next. 8) The percent of the cases which took less than 2 hours duration was 82.4 of total operation. 9) The transfusion was done in 108 cases (10.3%) and less than 2 units was transfused most frequently. 10) The transference to ICU was done in 144 (13.7%) cases and the patients of general surgery were transfered to ICU most frequently. 11) The majority of injuries were classified as blunt trauma (86.6%) while 13.4% were classified as penetrating trauma. 12) The lagest number of injuries involved the upper extremity (47.8%) and the next was the head & neck (31.9%).
Anesthesia* ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthesiology ; Appendectomy ; Cesarean Section ; Classification ; Emergencies* ; Enflurane ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Male ; Neck ; Pregnancy ; Upper Extremity

Combined anesthesia has been associated with less sedation, earlier ambulation, higher pulmonary flow rates, improved oxygenation, blunting of stress response and better pain control in the postoperative period than general anesthesia. Total intravenous anesthesia has many advantages compared with inhalation anesthesia, but also has several disadvantages such as hypertension, inappropriate anesthetic, delayed recovery and emergence delirium For improvement of this problems, the authors tried epidural anesthesia combined with continuous intravenous infusion of propofol which is a short acting intravenous anesthetic and has characteristics of rapid and clear-headed recovery. Fifty-three patients undergoing elective thoracic operation were randomly assigned to receive anesthesia with N2O-O2-enflurane (n=23), epidural anesthesia combined with N2O-O2-propofol infusion (3 mg/kg/hy; n=15), or epidural anesthesia combined with medical air-O2-propofol infusion (6 mg/kg/hy; n=15). We studied the hemodynamic changes and occurence of awareness and recovery time on those three groups. Although there were significant changes in the hemodynamics among the groups except CVP, but all values were within normal limit and there were no difference in the recovery time. We concluded that epidural anesthesia with medical air-O2-propofol infusion (6 mg/kg/hr) is acceptable altemative method for thoracic surgery.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, Epidural* ; Anesthesia, General ; Anesthesia, Inhalation ; Anesthesia, Intravenous ; Delirium ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Infusions, Intravenous* ; Oxygen ; Postoperative Period ; Propofol* ; Thoracic Surgery* ; Walking

PURPOSE: To evaluate the outcomes of Ahmed valve implantation in neovascular glaucoma patients who received intraoperative mitomycin C (MMC) and postoperative 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) after 24 months of follow-up. METHODS: A total of 40 eyes from 40 patients with neovascular glaucoma who received antiglaucomatous medication without previous glaucoma surgery were included in the present study. The patients were divided into 2 groups. The control group (20 eyes) underwent Ahmed valve implantation only and the study group (20 eyes) underwent Ahmed valve implantation and received intraoperative MMC and postoperative 5-FU. Failure was defined as the first occurrence of any of the following: 1) the first of 3 consecutive visits where intraocular pressure (IOP) was over 18 mmHg; 2) 20% IOP reduction from baseline; 3) the final number of topical medications was not reduced by at least two from baseline; 4) the need for additional surgery; or 5) the occurrence of a serious complication. RESULTS: In the control group, the cumulative success rate was 19.1% at 24 months. The cumulative success rate in the study group was 43.7% at 24 months. Serious complications such as endophthalmitis, valve exposure, or prolonged hypotony were not observed. CONCLUSIONS: The adjunctive use of intraoperative MMC and postoperative 5-FU with Ahmed valve implantation resulted in a high success rate and good IOP control and did not cause serious complications during the follow-up period.
Endophthalmitis ; Eye ; Fluorouracil ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glaucoma ; Glaucoma, Neovascular ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Mitomycin

The usefulness of a nondepolarizing muscle relaxant for endotracheal intubation is limited by its relatively slow onset of neuromuscular block compared to that achieved with succinylcholine. Several attempts have been made to produce a more rapid onset of muscle relaxation for endotracheal intubation. A large dose of nondepoarizing muscle relaxant may produce rapid onset but cauae undesirable side effects and a prolonged duration of neuromuscular block. The authors observed the degree of vocal cord relaxation and intubation condition 2 minutes after administration of atracurium and measured changes in mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate at the time of arrival in the operating room, just before abministration of atracurium, 2minutes after administration, and 5mins after intubation. The 40 of patients in this observation were divided into four groups. Group 1; 10patients, received 0.3 mg/kg of atracurium Group 2; 10patients, received 0.4 mg/kg of atracurium Group 3; 10patients, received 0.5 mg/kg of atracurium Group 4; 10patients, received 0.6 mg/kg of atracurium The results were as follows; 1) There were better intubating conditions in Group 3 and 4 than in Group 1 and 2(p<0.001). 2) Mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate did not change significantly after administration of atracurium in all four groups. From the above results we conclude that 0.5~0.6 mg/kg of atracurium provides satisfactory intubation condition 2 minutes after administration without hemodynamic changes.
Arterial Pressure ; Atracurium* ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Intubation ; Intubation, Intratracheal* ; Muscle Relaxation ; Neuromuscular Blockade ; Operating Rooms ; Relaxation ; Succinylcholine ; Vocal Cords

We have been using general anesthesia with thoracic epidural anesthesia to manage intrao-perative and postoperative pain for thoracic and cardiac surgery patients. Hemodynamic changes due to sympathetic block with epidural anesthesia is dependent on the level of sympathetic block. Thoracic epidural anesthesia block the cardiac sympathetic innervation, so there may be changes of cardiac function and pressure dependent coronary blood flow especially in coronary artery diseases. To investigate the effects of thoracic epidural anesthesia on coronary blood flow and hemodynamic changes, we performed thoracic epidural anesthesia by injection of 0.5% bupivacaine via a surgieally introduced catheter in dogs. The results were as follows ; 1) Coronary blood flow, systolic, mean and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and cardiac output were decreased at 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, 30 min, 45 min, 60 min, 90 min, 120 min after epidural injection of 0.5% bupivaeaine compared to control value (p<0.05). 2) Systemie vascular resistance, central venous pressure, pulmonary artery pressure, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, stroke volume and pulmonary vascular resistance were not changed after epidural injection of 0.5% bupivacaine.
Anesthesia, Epidural* ; Anesthesia, General ; Animals ; Blood Pressure ; Bupivacaine ; Cardiac Output ; Cardiovascular System* ; Catheters ; Central Venous Pressure ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Dogs* ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Injections, Epidural ; Pain, Postoperative ; Pulmonary Artery ; Pulmonary Wedge Pressure ; Stroke Volume ; Thoracic Surgery ; Vascular Resistance

Pheochromocytoma is functioning tumor which originates in the adrenal medulla or in chromaffin tissue along the paravertebral sympathetic chain. This tumor releases epinephrine and norepinephrine causing increase of peripheral resistance and resulting in increased blood pressure and reducing plasma volume. The anesthetic management of patients with pheochromocytoma presents many difficult problems such as hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, and hypotension. A 40 year-old female underwent resection of pheochromocytoma under general anesthesia. Thiopental was used for induction followed N2O-O2-enflurane supplemented with fractional doses of fentanyl and vecuronium for muscle relaxation. Hypertensive crisis during induction of anesthesia and surgical manipulation of the tumor were managed with phentolamine and sodium nitroprusside, and premature ventricular beats were controlled with lidocaine. We experienced marked fluctuation of blood pressure during anesthetic course.
Adrenal Medulla ; Adult ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Blood Pressure ; Epinephrine ; Female ; Fentanyl ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypotension ; Lidocaine ; Muscle Relaxation ; Nitroprusside ; Norepinephrine ; Phentolamine ; Pheochromocytoma* ; Plasma Volume ; Thiopental ; Vascular Resistance ; Vecuronium Bromide ; Ventricular Premature Complexes